Page 179 - English Vocabulary in Use (Pre & Intermediate)

S6 Air travel

A Departures
This is the usual sequence of activities when you get to the airport.

First you go to the check-in desk where they weigh
your luggage. Usually you are permitted 20 kilos,
but if your bags weigh more, you may have to pay
excess baggage (= you pay extra). The airline
representative checks your ticket and gives you a
boarding card for the plane with your seat number
on it. Then you go through passport control where
an Official checks [NOT eentrels] your passport,
and into the departure lounge. Here, you can also
buy things in the duty-free, e.g. perfume, alcohol
and cigarettes. About half an hour or forty
minutes before take-off, you are told to go to a
gate number, e.g. gate 14, where you wait before
you get on the plane. When you board (= get on)
the plane, you find your seat. If you have hand
luggage, you can put it under your seat or in the
overhead locker above your seat.
The plane then taxis (= moves slowly) towards the runway, and when it has permission to
take off, it accelerates along the runway and takes off.
Note: The verb to taxi is generally only used in this context.

The flight

You may want or need to understand certain announcements; these come from the captain
(= the pilot) or from an air steward or stewardess / cabin crew / flight attendants (= people
who look after the passengers):

Please fasten your seat belt and put your seat
in the upright position.
We are now cruising (= flying comfortably) at an altitude (= height) of 10,000 metres.
May we remind passengers (= ask passengers to remember) that there is no smoking until
you are inside the terminal building (= where passengers arrive and depart).
The cabin crew (= air stewards) are now coming round with landing cards. (These are cards
you sometimes have to fill in when you enter certain countries.)

Arrival

When the plane lands (= arrives on the ground), you have to wait for it to stop / come to a
halt. When the doors are open, you get off the plane and walk through the terminal
building and go to the baggage reclaim where you collect your luggage. You then pass
through customs (green = nothing to declare; red = goods to declare; blue = European
Union citizens). If you are lucky, you can then get a bus, taxi or train to the centre of town

without waiting too long. You can also hire a car (= rent a car) at most airports.
Note: In British English you normally hire something for a short period, e.g. hire a room for
a party, and rent something for a long period, e.g. a flat; for a car, you can use both words.

176 English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate)